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NEWS > U.S.A. > BILLY THE KID SEEKING PARDON
BILLY THE KID SEEKING PARDON
August 3 2010
Santa Fe, NM – There is perhaps no better representative of the Wild West than Billy the Kid. Though he was most certainly not the most successful or most prodigious of criminals, despite his reputation, his legend has come to personify the spirit of those 
wild times when much of the United States was still a lawless state. Other names certainly resonate from that era, but it is Billy the Kid who has stood as the poster boy for the period and for most of the world that will likely remain the case forever.
Like any great legend, Billy the Kid’s life and death has become something of legend, explored and exploited not only in historical texts but also in film, music, and literature. The passing along of his stories, the constant embellishments and alterations made to the truth, have only increased his legend much like other great historical figures such as Hercules or Jesus Christ. However like all legends there is truth to the story and real people behind the tale, as there was with Billy the Kid. Born Henry McCarty in New York City just before the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, the Kid lived a rough and violent life filled with controversy. Now 130 years after his apparent demise at the hands of Pat Garrett, a proposal to pardon the outlaw set before New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has created another stir. The Kid himself though is reportedly behind the idea.
“Governor Richardson has always said that he would consider making good on Governor Wallace's promise to Billy the Kid for a pardon. He is aware of the Garrett family's concerns and will be meeting with them next week,” said a representative for the Governor. “This is not about adding to or subtracting from the legend of either Billy the Kid or Pat Garrett. This is principally a concern about where the law went right and where it went wrong. A pardon is not statement of innocence but it is a statement about the legality of the prosecution of the case.”
The descendents of Garrett are concerned that any pardon would cast the former Sheriff in an ugly and possibly criminal light.
“If Billy the Kid was living amongst us now, would you issue a pardon for someone who made his living as a thief and, more egregiously, who killed four law enforcement officers and numerous others? Everybody wants to mythologize Billy the Kid,” wrote the Garrett family in a statement. “There is no reason for a pardon simply because so many years have passed and it is unconscionable to think that the Governor and state are seriously taking on this effort, wasting money and time, in changing history for someone who by his own admission was a career criminal responsible for all sorts of trauma and damage to people’s lives. We plan to make this very clear to the Governor when we speak to him.”
Garrett died in 1908 in a land dispute and thus is unable to speak for himself, unlike the Kid himself whose death has been as altered by legend as his life.
“My client feels very firmly that this pardon should go forward. For so many years the reputation of a man has been sullied by false accusations and exaggerations conducted not by the man himself but by political rivals who were bent on distracting from their own excesses. My client has for more than a hundred years had his name and reputation sullied and this pardon will end that,” said David Wilt, a lawyer for the man claiming to be Billy the Kid. “At this advanced age my client does not have the strength to appear in front of the Governor or speak to the press but he fully supports a pardon that will finally clear his name and allow him to live in peace for the first time in his long and tormented life.”
Billy the Kid will be 151 years old this November.
Mike Michaels, American Correspondent
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